In accordance with high functionalization, a recent image forming apparatus can perform not only setting of a sheet size and the number of print copies etc. but also setting of various printing conditions such as performing selection of single-sided printing or double-sided printing and selection of color printing or monochrome printing, causing a printing apparatus to perform enlarging or shrinking printing, performing aggregating printing by forming printing areas for a plurality of pages on a single sheet of printing paper, or applying punch or staple, further, changing printing quality depending on usage based on data to be printed that is created by an application program.
In addition, when an image processing apparatus gives print instruction to an image forming apparatus, the print instruction is given in the state where a file (data) to be printed is opened on the application as a method for giving print out instruction on the application program. However, when print setting is changed, it is necessary to execute output processing in each case after instructing various kinds of print conditions such as double-sided printing, dual page, necessity of staple, and the number of output copies, as the occasion demands, in the state where a property screen 47 which is a GUI for setting print conditions of a printer driver, for example, as shown in FIG. 14, is displayed, and a user has to perform complicated processing.
Hence, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-231462 discloses a method for changing print setting through a property displayed on a program which is always stayed on a desktop. In this method, among a plurality of images of setting items for setting print conditions such as print quality in a printing apparatus, one corresponding to the print condition which is frequently set by a user is arranged on a small screen sheet separately from the normally provided property and displayed on a predetermined display apparatus, so that the printing apparatus is controlled in accordance with the print condition which is set through the image of the setting item on the small screen sheet.
However, in the print control method disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-231462, it is impossible to perform printing by changing print setting by an easy operation for a running application program.